Ryan Scott Wittman (born October 26, 1987) is a former American basketball player, best known for his college career at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Early life and high school career

Wittman was born on October 26, 1987, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

. He is the son of Kathy and Randy Wittman and he has one sister, Lauren. Randy Wittman was formerly the head coach of the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

and was previously head coach of the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central ...

(1999–2001) and

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

(2007–2008). The elder Wittman was a player on the 1980–81 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team which won a championship under

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

. Drafted 22nd overall in the 1983 NBA Draft, Wittman played for NBA teams

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

, Sacramento Kings, and

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first estab ...

for nine seasons. Ryan Wittman was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, when his father was a member of the

, but grew up in

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of ...

and occasionally played

pick-up game In sports and video games, a pick-up game (also known as a ''scratch game'' or ''PUG'') is a game that has been spontaneously started by a group of players. Players are generally invited to show up beforehand, but unlike exhibition games there is ...

s with Kevin Garnett at the

Target Center Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, ...

. Wittman attended

Eden Prairie High School Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) (formerly Eden Prairie Senior High School) is a four-year public high school in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States established in 1923. The present high school opened in 1981 and was significantly added to in ...

, where he posted an average of 11.5 points per game in his junior year. He was named one of the preseason Top 30 players in Minnesota for the Class of 2006 by GopherIllustrated.com. In July 2005, Wittman played for the AAU team Minnesota Select. The team was 5–1 in the Las Vegas Classic, an AAU playoff tournament. He led Select scorers with 15 points in a quarterfinal loss to the Houston Hoops, 59–53. Their season record was 27–14. As a senior, his points per game average exploded to 20.5, and he hit 50 percent of his shots from three-point range and 84 percent from the foul line. One of the highlights of that season was upsetting Braham High School on December 30, 2005, who had a 65-game unbeaten streak snapped by the 80–67 loss to the Eagles. Wittman scored 30 points in that contest, including five-of-six from beyond the arc. After the season was over, Wittman was one of the five finalists for Minnesota Mr. Basketball and was listed as the sixth best Minnesota high school player by GopherIllustrated.com. In addition to being selected onto the First Team All Metro, he was a First Team All-State selection by the Timberwolves and a Second Team All-State selection by the

St. Paul Pioneer Press The ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' is a newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the east metro, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, ...

. He was recruited by

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

, Bradley,

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, Eastern Kentucky, and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. Cornell, which had recruited Wittman since his junior year in high school, was unable to offer him an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

due to

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

rules. Nonetheless, Wittman inked his letter of intent to the Big Red on December 31, 2005.

College career

In Wittman's first collegiate game, he broke the Cornell record for most points in a freshman collegiate opener with 18 points, also finishing with three rebounds and two assists. That game, a 64-61 road win against Northwestern, was Cornell's first victory against a

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

school in 39 years. At Cornell, Wittman was a member of the

Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key at Yale University. In 1929, '' The New York Times'' stat ...

society.

Professional career

He played in four games for the Celtics in the Orlando Summer League and then three games for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. In the 2010 season, he played six months in Italy for the

Fulgor Libertas Forlì Fulgor Libertas Forlì was an Italian professional basketball team based in Forlì, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The club ceased operating in January 2015 due to financial problems. History Fulgor Forlì was founded in 1949 by Stefano Cozzi. It reach ...

, then he went in

D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

at the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. In the 2011 season he played for the

Zastal Zielona Góra Zastal Zielona Góra, officially Enea Zastal BC Zielona Góra for sponsorship reasons, is a Polish professional basketball team that is based in Zielona Góra, Poland. The team plays in the Polish League and internationally in the VTB United Le ...

Statistics

NCAA

References

External links

Boston College coaching bioRyan Wittman at Ivy League Basketball News
- Ryan Wittman tag at unofficial news site featuring video archives & news links {{DEFAULTSORT:Wittman, Ryan 1987 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Poland American men's basketball players Basket Zielona Góra players Basketball players from Minnesota Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Cornell Big Red men's basketball players Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Fulgor Libertas Forlì players People from Eden Prairie, Minnesota Small forwards Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area